Effects of Multiple Working Positions on User Comfort: A Study on Multi-position Ergonomic Computer Workstation

Abstract

Many people spend the greater percentage of a day working on computers in many different line of work. Some kinds of works even require continuous prolonged time for seated work on computers. Thus, a computer workstation should be comfortable as working long time in same sitting position could lead to a repetitive strain injury. To increase comfort of computer workstation, a workstation capable of multiple working positions by implementing ergonomic principles was proposed and a Multi-Position Ergonomic Computer Workstation was developed. Positions of this workstation were controlled using linear actuators. A working position of the workstation was a combination of positions of each part, namely seat, backrest, footrest and monitor post. In this paper, effects of multiple working position on user comfort were investigated using the developed ergonomic computer workstation. Four types of working positions were selected to compare the corresponding effects on comfort. Subjective evaluation methods were used to assess comfort in multiple working positions. The subjective evaluation was conducted by using selected volunteer people that tested the workstation for a given time interval. Test subjects answered questionnaire by rating the comfort scale of the workstation for major body parts based on their feelings in each working position. Results showed that different working positions have different scale of comfort; and in particular, one kind of position gives better comfort for specific body parts than another position. On the other hand, one kind of position was very suitable for some kind of tasks but not as suitable for different kind of tasks.